By Annabel Begeng, Senior Creative/Copywriter & Lily Lazzarotti, Senior Art Director at Johannes Leonardo NY.
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Look at the campaigns that dominate Cannes and other international award shows, and a pattern emerges: many of the most impactful ideas are driven by PR thinking.
The work that wins doesn’t just live in paid media, it enters culture, sparks conversation and earns attention. That’s exactly why PR is such a powerful category in Young Lions. You’re not locked into a single format or channel.
Your idea can take almost any shape. From a product innovation, to a cultural partnership, to a sharp piece of messaging that travels fast and far.
PR professionals are trained to cut through noise. You know how to land an idea quickly, clearly and memorably, which is critical when you’re competing against more than 60 international teams and have only moments to make your thinking stick.
You also know how to distil a big idea into a single, compelling headline. That single-minded clarity is often the difference between a good entry and a winning one.
In the Australian competition last year, that thinking paid off. Two finalist ideas used the same high-profile talent — one of them was ours. What set our entry apart wasn’t the size of the talent, but how meaningfully and strategically we used them. The idea was deeply relevant to who that talent was and what they stood for, and that connection made all the difference.
If you’re a PR professional wondering whether you’re “creative enough” to enter Young Lions, here’s the truth: you absolutely are.
Creatives spend their days trying to earn attention and headlines. That’s your speciality.
So back yourself, give it a crack — and who knows? You might just find yourself on a yacht in Cannes this June.
Young Lions Australia 2026 registrations close Feb 5. More here.